Chicken & Poultry Archives - Page 5 of 9 - Retro Food For Modern Times

16
Apr
2019

The Ultimate Shawarma….Man!

categories: Chicken & Poultry, Podcasts, Turkey, World Cooking

For my modern take on Turkish food, there was only one choice. It was always going to be shawarma. And my first thought was that I could give some props to my girl Sabrina Ghayour. I own all of her cookbooks and Persiana remains one of my favourite books to cook from. Sabrina’s recipe for ultimate chicken shawarma comes from her book Feasts and it is totally delicious!!!!

But, as I was cooking the shawarma, I reallised I had another connection (that does not involve late night stops at the Hollywood Palace) and that connection is my new favourite podcast, or actually set of pods. I ‘m sure I have spoken about my love of the true crime pod before and some time ago I started listening to Small Town Murder. I virtually inhaled every episode so I was able to catch up on the back catalogue of then 80 something episodes pretty quickly. I’m listening to Episode 114 as I write.

But what do you do when you run out of pod and don’t want to wait a whole week to hear more from the funniest guys in podcasting? Well, in my case, despite barely knowing one sport from another, you start listening to their other pod Crime In Sports. And let me tell you, you don’t have to know anything about sport to enjoy it.

Both of these pods are amazing, the hosts, James Pietrogiallo and Jimmie Whisman are hilarious!!! And the stories!!!! Who knew????

For a good start to the level of crazy Crime in Sports reaches, why not give Episode 58 a try?

#058 – If He Could Kill The World… – The Terribleness Of Viacheslav Datsik

This tale contains neo-Nazi’s, naked snow wrestling, armed robbery, unrestrained testicle pummelling, bare handed escapes from Russian mental asylums and the self-nicknamed Red Tarzan. Believe me, amongst all the, what James and Jimmie would call nudnickery, there is not much time for too much sport.

Another favourite of mine comes from my own country…

#058 – Such is Annihilation – The Chaoticness of Ben Cousins

Aka…you hid your meth where?

What has all this to do with Shawarma you ask? Well, there are some recurring characters in Crime in Sports, a few special guests that pop in for a fleeting moment in each episode and one of those is the Shawarma man. Spawned in Episode 32, (Dave Meggatt), the Shawarma man invariably refuses to serve some hapless and very confused sporting criminal some lovely lamb shawarma. I wonder what he would think about Sabrina’s chicken version!

Just quickly back to Sabrina, her shawarma contains normal pickles. I made some pickled turnips for mine. Normally when you see these they are a gorgeous hot pink. This normally comes from beet juice. I think beets are the food of the devil so I added some radishes to my turnips which turned my pickles a much paler but still rather pretty pink.

That’s me done!

Read and cook Sabrina, listen to Small Town Murder and Crime in Sports and tell me what you think!

Also, please let me know your favourite cookbooks and I’m always up for a good pod recommendation.

For now?

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15
Oct
2018

Chicken Cacciatore

categories: Chicken, Italy

Happy Chicken Cacciatore Day Everyone!!!!

You might now know it but there is a debate raging on the backstory of Chicken Cacciatore!

Commonly received wisdom will have you believing that Chicken Cacciatore or Hunter’s Chicken originated in Renaissance Italy.

The big problem with this theory is that there were no tomatoes in Renaissance Italy – they only came to Italy post the discovery of the New World!

Ah, but the…let’s call them the Old Worlders will tell you, “It was made without tomatoes back in the day”.

Possible. But tomatoes seem to be fairly integral to the idea of Chicken Cacciatore. Even this old recipe for it which doesn’t contain mushrooms or olives or any of the additions we see in modern Cacciatore contains tomatoes. Two types!

By the way, how adorable is this recipe? The whole book is like this! And where else have you read a recipe that mentions “wretched” little chicken wing or tells you to stir something with enthusiasm!

But, I’ve only told you one side of the debate. The second theory of Chicken Cacciatore comes from Nikki Sengit from her amazing book, The Flavour Thesaurus. Her contention is that Chicken Cacciatore is about as Italian as Chicken Tikka Masala is Indian!

“Hunter’s Stew – which is not, sadly, the invention of pockmarked Sicilian peasants, returning home with a brace of feral chickens slung over their waistcoats, but an English recipe from the 1950’s taught to nice girls by their mothers in the hope they’d bag the sort of chap who’d neither be too unadventurous nor too suspiciously cosmopolitan to object to a lightly herbed slop of chicken in tomato sauce”

Oh Nikki, so harsh!

Chicken Cacciatore is delicious!!! At least this recipe, which is the one I used is! I only took one photo so here it is again!

So, tell me which side of the debate do you land on? Renaissance or 1950’s. Either way, buon appetito and have a great week!!!!

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22
Jan
2018

All The Z’s 3 – All The Zucchini – REPOST

categories: Flatbread, Salad, Turkey, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Zucchini

You knew it was coming right? There was never going to be a showcase of Z recipes without a recipe for zucchini. Except there’s not just one zucchini recipe…there’s going to be four. Because it’s midsummer and my zucchini plants have gone berserk. I have been eating zucchini at least once a day for weeks. I have given away dozens of them. And they just keep coming! So I have to keep finding things to do with them. Here is a summary of this summer’s dishes…so far…

This flatbread recipe which is below came via Australian Gourmet Traveller and it is so good – not to mention almost too pretty to eat! If you don’t want to make your own bread, you can sub in a flatbread of your choice. But the bread is pretty easy and gives you a huge dose of smug!

Seriously three zucchini plants are producing enough to feed a small army! And they grow so quickly. One second they are tiny, the next literally as big as my arm!

But here’s the thing…up until recently, I wasn’t that big a fan of zucchini. I recall it from childhood as being a bland soggy mess. My conversion came when I tasted it raw in a salad one day. And it was super good! The above salad is so easy to make and became my go-to whilst on holidays – I chopped a heap of carrots, zucchini, celery and cheese and kept them in a container in the fridge. Whenever I got a bit peckish, I would get out some lettuce, sometimes crumble in some hard-boiled egg, add a splash of dressing and roll up for a healthy, tasty snack! The recipe is from my old fave Rosemary Mayne Wilson’s Salads For All Seasons.

Rosemary suggests a mayo dressing for this salad. I vote no on that. My preferred dressing for this salad is a vinaigrette with a good dollop of mustard in it. Try it…you won’t regret it.

Turkey and Zucchini Patties with Cacio e Pepe Zoodles

Okay, here’s one for the meat eaters! Although I was not very complimentary about a lot of the meals in Pete Evans’ paleo cookbook, Healthy Every Day, these turkey and zucchini patties were an exception. They are awesome! I make them all the time (sometimes I even have to buy zucchini to make them!). I don’t use the egg in this recipe as I find the mixture is already quite wet without it. (Pete also doesn’t tell you to squeeze the water out of the zucchini which you need to do).

And here’s Pete’s recipe:

The eagle-eyed of you may have noticed the fourth dish nestled in below the turkey patties in the photo above. The last recipe in the zucchini extravaganza is a Zoodle Cacio e Pepe. (Zucchini noodles which cheese and pepper). A lot of recipes I have found for this cook the zoodles. We’re not going there. I far prefer raw zucchini to cooked so mine is kind of a Cacio e Pepe carpaccio…

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Zoodle Cacio e Pepe

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Ingredients

Scale

1 zucchini
2 tbsp Grana Padano or Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 finely chopped mint (optional)

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Instructions

If you have a spiralizer, make noodles out of your zucchini.
If not, use a vegetable peeler to make long thin strips of zucchini.
Place in a bowl and toss through the olive oil, lemon juice, black pepper and cheese.
Top with the mint if using.
Serve straight away

Have a wonderful week! I’m off to harvest more zucchini!

Before we go though, tell me what is your favourite zucchini recipe?

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13
Mar
2017

Balinese Chicken Satay Skewers – Repost from 2017

categories: Bali, Chicken, Travel

Okay, so I was planing on giving you the next instalment of The A-Z of Cooking this week. But, my plans went awry in much the same way as my life seems to be going awry. So Balinese Chicken Satay Skewers it is! Not that I’m complaining (and nor should you be) because I know what is coming up next from the A-Z and believe me, even though I haven’t made it yet? I strongly feel that we are onto a winner, winner chicken dinner with the Balinese Chicken Skewers.

I love chicken satay skewers and have been making these regularly since my return. The recipe provided below is based on the one we learned at Ketut’s Bali Cooking Class in Ubud. Sadly it is not as good. Possibly because it is not cooked in an open air kitchen overlooking rice paddies and cooked over coconut shells:

Nor were the spices hand ground in the traditional way:

Also, the Balinese have about forty types of ginger and here, we have one. However, whilst these won’t absolutely transport you to Bali, they are utterly delicious! How could it not be? I am a big fan of pretty much any meat on a stick. Here, the marinated chicken remains tender and juicy after grilling

And the spicy peanut sauce is a perfect accompaniment. I bought a tiny terracotta Balinese grill, however, I cooked these in the oven. I really like my terracotta friend though!

Here he is again!

Ketut suggested that you serve your chicken satay skewers with white or yellow rice. In the first photo above, I served mine the way my Malaysian friend Aiden serves his – with a very simple salad of cucumber and red onion. Simply stab the tip of the skewer into the cubes of cucumber and onion and then into the sauce. So good!

My favourite way of eating these is in a wrap (more traditionally a roti) with some tomato, cucumber, onion and coriander salad and sprinkled with extra peanuts!

Just looking at these photos is making me want to make them again, right now! So, here’s the recipe!

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Balinese Chicken Satay Skewers

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Perfectly grilled chicken and a spicy peanut sauce is a match made in heaven!

Author: Taryn Fryer

Ingredients

Scale

For The Skewers

500g chicken breast

For The Marinade

3 tbsp chopped shallots
2 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tbsp lime juice
4 tbsp sweet soy sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
5 tbsp coconut oil
Salt and pepper to taste

For The Peanut Sauce

300g peanuts
3 cloves of garlic
4 shallot cloves
2 tbsp palm sugar
1 tbsp red chilli (more / less to taste)
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tbsp sweet soy sauce
1 cup chicken stock
2 tbsp coconut milk
1 tbsp ginger

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Instructions

For The Chicken

Mix the marinade ingredients together.
If using wooden skewers, soak these in water to prevent them burning.
Cut the chicken into cubes and marinate 15 minutes.
Thread onto skewers.
Grill until browned and cooked through, basting with the leftover marinade.

For The Peanut Sauce

Fry the peanuts until golden brown. Remove from the pan and allow to cool. Drain off most but not all of the oil.
Grind the chillies, garlic, shallots, palm sugar and ginger in a food processor or mortar and pestle until they form a paste. Add the peanuts and grind to a paste again.
Place the peanut paste into a pan. Add the chicken stock and coconut milk.
Add the sweet soy to taste.
Bring to the boil.
Simmer until thick and season with salt and pepper.
Add the lime juice to taste.

Have a wonderful week! I’ll be back, next week possibly with something quixotic and quaint that hopefully will not leave me feeling too queasy!

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02
Nov
2016

Turning Japanese – 1989 Japanese Snack Plate

categories: Chicken & Poultry, Japan, Prawns, Radish, Snacks

Konichiwa dear people o’ the Internet.

Today we are exploring the first part of a two-part series taken from the pages of Vogue Entertaining October / November 1989 with a gorgeous Japanese snack plate.

On the plate today we have Japanese Fried Chicken, Prawn Canapé’s, Radish Canapés, edamame beans, wasabi and mayo! This is so pretty, perfect for a Spring brunch!

The magazine comes from a time when ingenious recipes and inventive ideas may have involved giving your guests a bowl of roses to munch on. Yummy!

Roses aside, we are putting some Spring flavours in full bloom on today’s Japanese snack plate. Just as an aside though, guess which day the J key on my laptop decided to break, meaning it had to be hit about four times harder than all the other keys. The sound track for the writing of this post was tap, tap, tap THUMP tap, tap, tap THUMP.

Minor typing difficulties aside, lets turn our attention to some hors d’œuvres for our Japanese snack plate.

Japanese Stuffed Radishes

Could not be simpler and the crunchy peppery radish is delicious with the salty punch of the caviar. Simply slice your radish down the middle of the stem, then scoop out a small hollow in your radish and fill with caviar. I think nowadays if you were making this you would use tobiko instead of normal caviar but maybe that was readily available in 1989. Come to think of it, I have no idea if it is readily available now!

Stuffed Prawns

Pardon me for having two things stuffed with caviar in this post but seeing as I had to buy it specially, I wanted to get some bang for my buck. Also, if it was good enough for Vogue Entertaining in 1989 its good enough for me!

This is also very tasty with this time a contrast between the sweet prawn meat and the salty caviar. Add a dob of pungent wasabi and some creamy mayo and you have perfection! The original recipe had the prawn heads left on. I took mine off. I just think it is easier to eat with head and shells gone.

It is important to skewer the prawns so they stay straight.

To make these you will need:

12 medium green king prawns
2 tsp salt
25g black caviar

Place a satay stick through the body of each prawn to keep it straight. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Drop the prawns in and cook for 3-5 minutes. Remove from the water and leave to cool.

Remove the satay sticks and remove the heads and shells, leaving the tail. Split the prawns down the back with a sharp knife and remove the digestive tracts. Fill the tract cavity with a little caviar. Repeat.

Soy and Ginger Edamame (loosely adapted from A Moveable Feast by Katy Holder)

These are not from Vogue Entertaining Oct /November 1989 but make a tasty and colourful addition to the snack plate.

200g edamame in pods
1/2 tbsp Japanese rice vinegar
1/2 tbsp light olive oil
1/2 tbsp mirin
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp grated ginger
pinch of sugar

Cook the edamame in boiling water for 2 minutes. Drain and refresh under cold water. Pop the beans from their pods. Combine all the other ingredients in a bowl, stirring well to dissolve the sugar. Pour over the edamame and sit for at least an hour to let the flavours absorb. Strain and add to the plate.

Japanese Fried Chicken

I did not make this for the snack plate. We had it for dinner the night before but I made extra so we could have it on the plate. This is so good. Huh…it’s fried chicken, like it was ever going to be bad! This was great hot from the fryer in the evening and also super eaten cold the next day – it was not too greasy like a lot of fried chicken as leftovers and still quite crispy, although it is not a thick southern style coating.

Here’s the recipe!

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Japanese Fried Chicken

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A delicious Japanese take on fried chicken

Author: Taryn Fryer

Ingredients

Scale

500g chicken breast meat, skin on
3 tsp freshly grated ginger
1 clove garlic, chopped finely
1 spring onion chopped finely
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp Japanese soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
1 tsp wasabi paste
1 small dried chilli, chopped
pinch of black pepper
1 egg white, lightly beaten
2/3 cup cornflour
vegetable oil for deep frying
Mayonnaise, wasabi to serve

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Instructions

Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces.
Make a marinade of the ginger, garlic, spring onion, sesame oil, soy sauce, mirin, pepper and chilli.
Marinate the chicken for at least 1 1/2 hours.
Mix eggwhite and cornflour well.
Add the chicken and marinate.
Heat the oil.
Deep-fry spoonfuls of the chicken mixture until golden brown.
Drain onto crushed kitchen paper and keep hot whilst the rest of the mixture is cooked.
To serve, spread on platter with dobs of mayo and wasabi

That’s it from me, have a great week!

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Category: Chicken & Poultry

#058 – If He Could Kill The World… – The Terribleness Of Viacheslav Datsik

#058 – Such is Annihilation – The Chaoticness of Ben Cousins

Turkey and Zucchini Patties with Cacio e Pepe Zoodles

Zoodle Cacio e Pepe

Ingredients

Instructions

Balinese Chicken Satay Skewers

Ingredients

For The Skewers

For The Marinade

For The Peanut Sauce

Instructions

For The Chicken

For The Peanut Sauce

Japanese Stuffed Radishes

Stuffed Prawns

Soy and Ginger Edamame (loosely adapted from A Moveable Feast by Katy Holder)

Japanese Fried Chicken

Japanese Fried Chicken

Ingredients

Instructions